Force 3 Names New CEO, Lays Stake In Federal Networking And Security

Crofton, Md.-based Force 3 has appointed a new CEO, who said he will help the longtime federal VAR establish itself as a specialized player in the industry.

Force 3 announced earlier this week that Mike Greaney would be assuming the role of CEO, after previously acting as president of Force 3 Federal.

"I would say, from a vision standpoint, really what I want to do -- I think it's important that we are known for something as opposed to [being] known as a big federal VAR. I think we need to lay a stake in the ground and say we are the network security company," Greaney said in an interview with CRN.

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Greaney brings more than 24 years of experience in the industry, including various executive roles at Force 3, since 2009. Prior to that, Greaney worked at Abraxsis Technologies, All American Semiconductor and Unique Technologies, to name a few. The Force 3 executive team said that Greaney's leadership at the company has helped propel several unique service and solutions offerings, and they look forward to where he will take the company.

"As we seek to advance Force 3's mission to secure success for all customers, we focused on identifying a leader who could bring vision, focus and a wealth of experience to Force 3's continued growth," said Rocky Cintron, chairman and founder of Force 3. "Mike is passionate about our business, proven in the industry, and ready to lead the company as we navigate the ever-changing IT landscape."

More specifically, Greaney said his vision as the new CEO is to keep the company focused in the federal vertical, but build a laser focus around networking and security, including designing, deploying, maintaining and supporting customer technology.

Going forward, he said that he wants to work on transitioning Force 3, which is on CRN's list of Tech Elite 250, to the "next generation networking arena" around SDN and cloud. Around the networking pieces, security is "going to be paramount," especially for the solution provider's federal customers, which comprise 95 percent of Force 3's business.

The company transition is already under way, Greaney said. He said the company is investing heavily in adding to the engineering staff. On top of that, he said the company is investing in training for sales representatives to help transition them to focusing on client business issues instead of the transaction.

"We've already begun the journey towards this," Greaney said. "We're going to continue to invest in that area."

The investment also will include a separate division of the company to focus on what Greaney called "next generation" technologies, including software defined networking, software defined data center and other technologies that present themselves in networking and security.

"The idea really will be as our customers' consumption model changes and the way they consume it changes. We want to be in front of that. We want to be bleeding-edge," Greaney said.

PUBLISHED AUG. 7, 2014